1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
511 
, requiring only the seeding implements, a machine 
for cutting and raking the hay, and a few of 
the smaller implements for the cultivation of 
roots to be consumed by the milch cows. The 
best breed of cattle to keep depends on cir¬ 
cumstances. The Ayrshire is generally considered 
as giving the greatest flow of milk on a given 
amount of food. The milk of the Jersey, however, 
is the richest, so if butter and cheese making is the 
object they are the most profitable. The milking 
and management of cows is one of the most im¬ 
portant considerations in dairying, and the utmost 
cleanliness should be preserved in everything about 
the stables and the milk house. Ontario. 
Wooden Shoes for Horses. 
Mr. M. F. Hughes, in charge of the large “Chand¬ 
ler Farm,” near Lansing, Mich., sends sketches of 
The wooden shoes which he has used on his horses 
for the past year. 
Much of the farm 
land is low and of a 
miry nature, and after 
heavy rains it is im¬ 
possible to use horses 
for mowing anddra w- 
ing the hay unless 
shod in the way here 
given. The horses 
are shod in the usual 
manner, and under 
each shoe a wooden 
plate is placed, made 
of elm plank, one and 
Fig. 1.— wooden shoe. one-half inch thick, 
twelve inches long, 
and ten inches wide. The corks of the shoes, which 
should be pretty long, fit into small mortises in the 
wooden shoe. “The shoe is held in place by a band 
passing over the front of the foot, below the quick 
of the hoof, and fastened to the shoe by a small bolt 
on each side of the foot, about two inches back of 
the center of the shoe. The band is made of light 
band-iron, one inch wide.” With these “snow- 
shoes ” the horses are able to go upon the miry or 
soft land with safety. The upper surface of the 
wooden shoe is shown in figure 1, and a side view, 
with the home’s foot in place is seen in figure 2. 
Young Chickens and Insects. 
The practice of excluding chickens from the gar¬ 
den, especially in mid-summer, is bad both for the 
•chickens and for the vegetables. The young chicks 
will not thrive in confinement, as in freedom, and 
the growing plants are in a good measure protected 
from insects by the chickens. We have never suc¬ 
ceeded better with young broods than by putting 
them, with the mother, in the vegetable garden. 
The mother is kept confined in a coop, and the 
chickens have free access to her through the slats. 
8he follows her instincts in scratching over the 
ground under the coop for worms and grubs, and 
after a few days the coop is pushed along to new 
soil. The chickens are regularly fed with scalded 
meal, or boiled screenings; they supply themselves 
with animal food from the garden. The chickens are 
too small to do any harm to plants that are well 
started, and yet they pick up an immense number 
of insects. The more highly a garden is manured, 
the more rapidly do insects multiply, and the greater 
is the need of birds and fowls to keep them in 
check. The chickens can go beneath cucumbers, 
squashes, beans, tomatoes, etc., and pick the eggs 
and worms from the underside of the leaves, where 
ihey are generally found. They eagerly chase every 
moth and bug that flies, and if oue alights within 
striking distance, it is sure to be devoured. When 
the chickens are large enough to do injury to the 
plants, they are easily removed to other quarters. 
Hints and Helps for Farmers. 
A Yoke fora Sucking Cow.—“A Subscriber” 
sends a sketch of a device which he has found 
effectual in preventing a cow from sucking herself. 
It consists of two frames, one for each side of the 
neck, which resemble short ladders, and are made 
in much the same way. These frames are fastened 
on by means of a sheet of leather or heavy cloth 
Fig. 1.—A YOKE FOR A SUCKING COW. 
over the top of the neck, and two straps which 
buckle underneath, as shown in figure 1. Brads, 
made of nails, are fastened in the rear ends of the 
horizontal pieces of the. frames, which prick the 
cow when she bends her neck too far to one side. 
A Good Stable Tie.— Mr. “D.O.K.,” Carbondale, 
Pa., sends a model of a convenient 
and cheap Cattle Tie, and writes as 
follows : “ Our Tie is made of three- 
eighths inch rope, which is braided 
into an iron ring, sliding freely up 
and down a post set close to the 
manger or feed-box. There is a 
knot or frog on one end and a loop 
on the other. The ends pass on 
each side of the cow’s neck, and 
the knot is slipped through the 
loop which may be made tighter 
by twisting. Similar fastenings 
made of chains with snap hooks 
may be bought at the hardware 
stores, but such an one as is here THETrE - 
described will last a long time and answer every 
purpose of a good Cattle Tie, shown in figure 2.” 
A Spring Catch for Gate.— “ G.S.T.,” Dutchess 
Co., N. Y., makes use of old wire springs in the 
method shown in figure 3. The catch is fastened 
by a single bolt, and is movable. The spiral wire 
is so fastened 
to the catch and 
post so as to 
allow the catch 
to descend 
when the pro¬ 
jecting bar of 
the gate is pass¬ 
ing over it, 
and be again 
Fig. 3.— spring catch for gate, brought up 
when the notch in the catch is reached. The 
catch is prolonged on the opposite side into a 
handle, and by lifting on it the other end of the 
catch is lowered, and the gate is ready to open. 
A Broom-Corn Seeder.— “S. E. V.,” Bluffton, 
Ind., sends a sketch and description of an instru¬ 
ment for removing the seed from the brush of the 
broom-corn. It is made by taking a thin board 
about two feet long by ten inches wide, sawing 
into its end lengthwise at frequent intervals—the 
cuts being six 
inches in depth. 
The points of the 
strips are then 
sharpened, giving 
a saw-like edge, 
as shown in 
figure 4. The 
board thus made 
is fastened to a 
piece of timber so 
that it will lean 
away from the Fig. 4.-broom-corn seeder. 
operator, and the instrument is complete. In using 
the Seeder, the brushes of broom-corn are struck up¬ 
on the teeth and drawn towards the person at work. 
A Simple Wagon Jack.— “G. 
S.T.,” Dutchess Co., N. Y., sends 
a sketch and description of “a 
light serviceable Jack, tig. 5 
which suits perfectly.” It is for 
use in oiling light buggies. It is 
a “stand,” rather than a Jack, as 
the wheel is lifted by one hand 
while the instrument is adjusted 
with the other. It is made of pine, 
furnished with three rests of dif¬ 
ferent hights, and provided with 
a bottom of sufficient size to be 
stable. Such a rest is simple, 
easy to work with light wagons, 
quickly made, and takes up but 
little space when not in use. 
Garden Mattock. —Desiring 
an implement for destroying 
weeds in my garden, I made a 
light mattock of an old ship car¬ 
penter’s adze, by having the 
blacksmith weld a piece of cast 
steel to the poll, and sharpening 
it into a pick point. The blade 
was slightly straightened, being 
originally too much curved. 
The handle, made of tough ash, 
was first planed square, and of 
the proper taper, and then cham¬ 
fered off,from near the head, until 
it was nearly round. The handle 
being forty-four inches long, makes this a desirable 
and easy tool for garden use. J. L. T. 
Tansy Tea for Insects.— “C. C. K.,” Naples, 
Ills., writes: “Our cucumber vines began dying 
very suddenly, soon after they came into bearing, 
and millions of fleas or Aphides were discovered on 
them. The adult insects were tiny black things, 
the young ranging from creamy white, through 
the shades of brown to black. One of my neigh¬ 
bors told me to sprinkle the plants with Tansy Tea, 
and it would save them. She had tried it on her 
vines and found it a success, while many of her 
neighbors had lost their vines. I had twenty-six 
hills to begin with, and about half of them had 
died, and were burned immediately, but one dose 
of strong tea (a three-gallon kettleful of Tansy 
sprouts covered with water and boiled), poured 
over the vines through the rose of a sprinkling- 
pot nearly cleared the vines. It was applied in the 
evening, and the next morning very few were dis¬ 
covered, and those few took their departure for 
parts unknown after another application. I could 
find none of the insects anywhere, dead oralire: 
not even on the ground under the vines.” 
I i 
Fig. 5.— SIMPLE 
WAGON jack. 
